Amy Rees Anderson: In business, every single person and department matters

Every single job in a company has vast importance, and far too often people lack an appreciation or an understanding of just how impactful each position is to the overall success or failure of a business.

Next there are the operations/delivery teams. If the operations teams don’t follow the proper instructions or training documents, then they won’t do their jobs correctly, the account managers receive client complaints, and the sales team won’t have good references to make new sales in the future. If the operations teams upset delivery partners then those delivery partners may not come through for them, leading to clients not getting their services.

Then there is finance. If mistakes are made on invoicing, payment application and posting, credits, etc., then the clients are furious and accounts are lost and sales have no references. If finance doesn’t make payments on time then delivery partners get upset and services to clients are impacted, which can result in losing the client’s business. If finance doesn’t handle collections well, the result is upset clients and the possible loss of business.

One can’t forget human resources. If HR makes mistakes, then payroll doesn’t get issued, and we all know the stress that causes in any company. If HR doesn’t bring in good hires to the company, then there will be a poor quality of employees and every other person is impacted because they are left to carry the extra burden. If HR runs out of tissues then the entire company is in trouble! (Don’t act like you have never cried to HR We all have at some point.)

Then there is IT. If computers don’t work or servers go down, then the company will have staff sitting and getting paid while no production can take place, which can cost the company a fortune. In addition, if servers are down, clients can’t place orders, which means no new revenue coming into the company, which means the company can’t make payroll, etc.

Next there is research and development. If applications crash, employees can’t work and the staff sits — getting paid with no production — and the company loses money. Or clients can’t place orders and the company loses revenue. They also have the burden of fixing help tickets and new system enhancements in a timely fashion and any system mistakes they make can cause every link in the chain to fail, so they too have a huge burden that has to be done correctly or the entire business is hurt by it.

If training and quality don’t do their part right, then the employees are trained poorly from the get-go, and everything, in every way, falls completely apart at every stage. The impact of their jobs is clear and needs no more comment. If the front desk person doesn’t greet people with a smile, then their impression of the company is poor. If they don’t answer the phones properly and politely direct people where they can get help, then the clients are upset and the company loses business.

If the person who cleans the building and takes out the trash stops doing it, the company would have a really messy and disgusting office that would be miserable to work in every day.

Every single person in a company is a valuable piece of the chain. If they do their part wrong, the entire chain feels the effect. That chain is in a circle that goes round and round, with no beginning and no end. Every person matters and is equally important to the overall functions done in a company. No one person is insignificant or small in the process. Everyone needs each other.

Employees should take their role in that chain seriously. Don’t make mistakes that hurt others because you told yourself that your job didn’t really matter or it wasn’t that important. It is. And when you don’t do it right you hurt every other person and every customer you serve. So no one should ever think or say that their role doesn’t matter, because I can promise you that it does!